Garment supporting means using woven cane

ABSTRACT

A woven cane strip is reinforced by laminating its cross over strips with a flexible binder and coating, such as polyvinyl acetate or polyurethane. The result is a thin strong strip which can be easily bent but resists deformation in other directions. An edging strip such as leather, polyvinyl chloride, polyurethane, or cotton fabric may be sewn or sealed around all the exposed edges to eliminate scratching and reduce the wear on fabrics when used as a belt or suspenders. Straps for supporting wrist watches provide an ideal structure since the cane strips have exceptional strength and the woven structure provides adequate ventilation. Color may be applied before or after the binding and coating. A final coating such as acrylic, polyurethane, or lacquer may be applied for abrasion resistance or decoration.

[ 1 Aug. 20, 1974 GARMENT SUPPORTING MEANS USING WOVEN CANE [76] Inventor: Jerald H. Fisher, 1246 Park Ave.,

New York, NY. 10029 [22] Filed: May 25, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 363,883

[52] US. Cl. 2/338 [51] Int. Cl. A4li 3/02, A4lf 9/00, A4lf 15/00 [58] Field of Search 297/416, 445-450;

161/35, 36, 39; 2/336, 338, 311, 322, 325; 224/4 D, 28 R, 28 W [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 734,167 7/1903 Gaisman 2/338 802,089 10/1905 Scherrer 297/416 1,712,017 5/1929 Aoyama 161/39 1,738,107 12/1929 Luftig 2/338 1,806,909 5/1931 Meyer 2/338 X 2,082,346 6/1937 Lavenson 2/338 X 2,821,168 1/1958 Forbes 2/338 X 3,105,971 10/1963 Banks 2/338 X 3,208,795 9/1965 Schultz 297/445 3,241,881 3/1966 Carnahan et al. 2/338 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 20,857 10/1899 Great Britain 2/338 Primary ExaminerGeo. V. Larkin Attorney, Agent, or Firm-James M. I-Ieilman; William O. Heilman; Anthony J. Casella [5 7 I ABSTRACT A woven cane strip is reinforced by laminating its cross over strips with a flexible binder and coating, such as polyvinyl acetate or polyurethane. The result is a thin strong strip which can be easily bent but resists deformation in other directions. An edging strip such as leather, polyvinyl chloride, polyurethane, or cotton fabric may be sewn or sealed around all the exposed edges to eliminate scratching and reduce the wear on fabrics when used as a belt or suspenders. Straps for supporting wrist watches provide an ideal structure since the cane strips have exceptional strength and the woven structure provides adequate ventilation. Color may be applied before or after the binding and coating. A final coating such as acrylic, polyurethane, or lacquer may be applied for abrasion resistance or decoration.

9 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures GARMENT SUPPORTING MEANS USING WOVEN CANE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to the apparel art and is more particularly directed to an improved belt of the type adapted to beworn about the waist for the purpose of supporting articles of clothing. Most of the mens belts in use today are made of leather and they are generally acceptable and useful. However, leather can be deformed in many ways and, as a result, leather belts develop a permanent sag in areas where the support is of prime importance. The present invention uses a material of woven cane which is easily bent to conform to the human body, but resists sagging and any deformation to alter its straight line shape. This is particularly true when the woven cane is treated with flexible binders and coatings such as polyvinyl acetate or polyurethane. Other garments may be made of the cane woven strip, such as suspenders, wrist bands, hat bands, hand bags, vests, and other accessories.

A feature of the invention is the use of woven cane, cemented with plastic binder to form belts, suspenders, and other garment supporting means.

Another feature of the invention is the addition of an edging strip such as leather, polyurethane, polyvinyl chloride, or fabric sewn around the edges of the strip to reduce abrasion of the fabric being supported. The edging strip can be made of metal.

Another feature of the invention is the addition of an edging strip which is electronically sealed with or without the use of a binder or plastic coat.

The invention comprises a strip of woven cane having stems of bamboo intertwined with each other to produce a flat strip having at least ten percent of the cane strips disposed at a 45 angle to the other strips. This type of construction produces the exceptional strength to resist shear deformation in the plane of the strip. Other types of woven cane, such as plain double weave, using stems set at 90 to each other can be used. The stems are bound together by means of a plastic waterproof binder and the edges are covered by leather or cotton fabric.

Other features and additional details of the invention will be disclosed in the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES FIG. 1 is a plan view of a portion of woven cane showing the preferred method of weaving and the edging strips.

FIG. 2 is an exploded plan view of both ends of a belt made of woven cane,

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a portion of a belt suspender in which the cane has a simplified weaving structure.

FIG. 4 is a view of an arm band, brace or bracelet using cane as the main element.

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view of the strip shown in FIG. 1 and is taken along line 5-5 of that figure.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a belt made with woven cane and using strips of VELCRO* as a fastening means.

FIG. 7 is an exploded plan view of the belt shown in FIG. 6, showing the matching strips of VELCRO* on the rear of the head end of the belt and on the face of the tail end.

FIG. 8 is a view of the reverse side of the tail end portion of the belt of FIG. 2, drawn to a larger scale.

FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view of the belt portion shown in FIG. 8, taken along line 9-9 of that figure.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a hand bag made of woven cane. *VELCRO is the registered trademark of American Velcro, Inc.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIG. I, the garment supporting means includes a woven cane strip having six longitudinal stems 10, a plurality of transverse stems 11, and a number of cross bracing stems l2, interwoven with the other strips and disposed at a 45 degree angle to them. These latter stems produce the ability to withstand side stresses. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, one edging strip 13, made of a material such as leather, polyurethane, polyvinyl chloride, or fabric may be added to the edges of the strip by sewing with stitches 13A or cemented by electronic sealing means. For some applications this part of the invention may be omitted.

Before the binding of edging strips are attached, the cane strip is immersed in a flexible binder and coating such as polyvinyl acetate or polyurethane in order to seal the woven stems together. After immersion, the excess binder is removed and the cane is air dried. The binder is clear and the cane remains flexible. To provide extra protection against abrasion, a coating such as flexible polyurethane, flexible polyvinyl chloride, lacquer, or acrylic polymer may be added. This final coating also is more resistant to water and humid weather. Coloring matter may be added by brushing, spraying, or dipping. The color may be applied during any stage except after the final abrasion coating.

The belt shown in FIG. 2 has the usual buckle 14 with a tongue 15 for insertion into holes 16 in the other end 17 of the belt. The buckle 14 is secured to the end of strip 18 with the tongue 15 projecting through one of the holes I6 formed by the particular type of weave indicated. As shown in FIG. 2, the edging is attached to the end portions of the woven cane strip. When the belt is in use, the tongue 15 is inserted into one of the holes 16 in the other end 17 of the strip, these holes being reinforced by a leather strip 19 on the reverse side of the strip (see FIGS. 8 and 9). Holes 16A in the leather strip 19 coincide with the holes 16 in the woven cane.

The garment shown in FIG. 3 is a suspender belt, only one end portion being shown. In this adaptation, the cane 20 is a more simplified type of woven strip, the cane stems being disposed at degrees with each other. When the cane is laminated by the application of a plastic binder, this form is also resistant to sideways deformation. The suspender strip 20 is terminated by the usual button straps 22 which are attached to the strip 20 by an electronic seal 23.

The wrist bracelet 25 shown in FIG. 4 is made of the same material and has the same woven design as the strap shown in FIG. I. It can support a watch if desired.

The belt shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 comprises a woven cane strip 26 with two retaining loops 27. On the front side of one end 28 and the reverse side of the other end 30, two strips of VELCRO are cemented or otherwise attached. VELCRO comprises complementary pieces of fabric, one piece having open loops forming hooklike threads which engage stub threads secured to a second piece to hold the two pieces tightly together, making a buckle unnecessary. The VELCRO strips 31, commonly referred to as hook and loop strips, are preferably cemented or sewn to the woven cane so they do not show when the belt is worn.

The edging 13 preferably is made of flexible material such as leather, polyvinyl chloride, polyurethane, or fabric. The woven stems are preferably made of bamboo cane, plastic cane, flexible polyurethane, flexible acrylic compounds, fiberglass strands, or flexible metal.

The hand bag 32 shown in FIG. is made of the woven cane material 33, laminated by a waterproof binder as described above. All edges 34 are made of leather or the flexible materials listed above. A handle 35 is added and a closure means 36 secured to the lid.

All the above cane designs, with the laminate glue and the waterproof coating, can be used for backs, seats, and sides of chairs and other types of furniture. The application of the laminate glue and coating provides a stronger and longer wearing furniture material which prolongs the life of the article and resists fading and color changes. Obviously, the widths of the belts, for example, are extended to cover the necessary open areas and all seat portions are made stronger by the use of thicker cane.

From the foregoing description it will be evident that the laminated woven cane can also be applied to many other types of wearing apparel. It can be made into hat bands, garters, vests, neckties, bow ties, wallets, belt attachments, dog collars, and vests. The invention is not limited to the number of applications set forth above for this useful type of woven material.

The embodiments of the invention, in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed, are defined as follows:

1. A waist belt comprising an elongated strip with parallel edges including a woven web of flat bamboocane stems, said stems being secured to each other by a plastic waterproof binder, edging strips of flexible material secured to the edges of the web, and fastening means for fastening the ends of the belt together.

2. A waist belt according to claim 1 wherein at least one quarter of the stems are disposed at an angle of 45 from the edges of the web.

3. A waist belt as in claim 1 wherein said stems are colored bamboo canes.

4. A waist belt according to claim 1 wherein said plastic waterproof binder is polyvinyl acetate.

5. A waist belt according to claim ll wherein said edging material is leather.

6. A waist belt according to claim 1 wherein said edging material is polyurethane.

7. A waist belt according to claim 1 wherein said edging material is cotton fabric.

8. A waist belt according to claim 1 wherein a reinforcing strip of leather is cemented to the woven web, and having a buckle and a tongue, said leather strip provided with holes to be inserted by the tongue in said belt buckle.

9. A waist belt according to claim 1 wherein said stems cross each other at spaced intervals, said stems being permanently but flexibly bonded to each other at said crossing points by a clear polyvinyl acetate, and an outer coating of flexible polyurethane for abrasion and water resistance. 

2. A waist belt according to claim 1 wherein at least one quarter of the stems are disposed at an angle of 45* from the edges of the web.
 3. A waist belt as in claim 1 wherein said stems are colored bamboo canes.
 4. A waist belt according to claim 1 wherein said plastic waterproof binder is polyvinyl acetate.
 5. A waist belt according to claim 1 wherein said edging material is leather.
 6. A waist belt according to claim 1 wherein said edging material is polyurethane.
 7. A waist belt according to claim 1 wherein said edging material is cotton fabric.
 8. A waist belt according to claim 1 wherein a reinforcing strip of leather is cemented to the woven web, and having a buckle and a tongue, said leather strip provided with holes to be inserted by the tongue in said belt buckle.
 9. A waist belt according to claim 1 wherein said stems cross each other at spaced intervals, said stems being permanently but flexibly bonded to each other at said crossing points by a clear polyvinyl acetate, and an outer coating of flexible polyurethane for abrasion and water resistance. 